


Miscommunication

by ElfishWriting



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Universe, Complete, Curses, F/M, Family, Malfoy Manor, Minor Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Misunderstandings, Post-Hogwarts, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-03-05 05:23:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13381065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElfishWriting/pseuds/ElfishWriting
Summary: Things don't go as planned for Draco and Hermione.





	1. A Breakdown of Communications

It was a quiet Thursday afternoon. Draco had been planning to spend it reading in the drawing room. The book was a particularly rare one he had found in a second-hand shop at the far end of Diagon Alley. But then a certain Theodore Nott arrived with news from blabbermouth Weaslette.

‘You are not seriously thinking about it are you?’ Theo demanded, barging through the doors. He was hoping against hopes that his best friend would prove him wrong.

‘What are you talking about, Theo?’ Draco asked, making no effort to hide his irritation. He hoped if he refused to move from his seat by the window then his melodramatic friend would leave him in peace.

‘Eloping?’ Nott clarified as he began pacing in a frantic manner before the fireplace. ‘Running away with Granger and skipping off into the sunset, forever disinherited? Do you even know what that means, Draco? You would not only lose the Manor but the whole estate! That includes the Gringotts vaults AND your father’s investments. You lose your father’s seat on the Wizengmot. Your position, your influence, your name. All of it. Gone. Poof. Your entire way of life flushed down the drain for a girl. You are the last heir!’

‘So?’ Draco asked without looking up from his page.

‘So!’ Theo scoffed. Beads of perspiration were beginning to make their way down his strained forehead. In his haste Theo had neglected to remove his cloak. ‘When your father dies the whole lot of it would fold because there is no one else to inherit it. It will all get sold off to the highest bidder and most likely ripped up. The art collection alone would be flung across the globe. The library! It makes me cringe just thinking about it!’

‘About what?’ He drawled. Draco was well acquainted with Theo’s love of books. He always nagged him about turning down page corners. Apparently, it hurts the book’s feelings.

‘It would be slit up; one of the oldest, and largest, private collections in Britain!’ Theo moaned. 'Everything your ancestors have striven to create for centuries! All dashed because you fell in love with a mudblood!’

‘Don’t call her that!’ Draco snapped indignantly, whipping round to glare at his friend. Neither him or Theo had called anyone _that_ since the end of the war.

‘Fine,’ Theo sighed almost mockingly, ‘Muggleborn. You know your life will never be the same.’

‘I know.’

‘You would have to get a job and work for _money_ so you could _live._ ’

‘I know.’

‘Your children wouldn’t see a penny of this.’

_‘I know.’_

‘Do you? Do you really?’ Theo inquired, glaring at Draco as if he were trying to see into his soul. Draco could feel the scepticism radiating off his friend in waves. ‘You are completely changing your children’s futures, not just your own.’

‘They don’t have to disinherit me!’ Draco pointed out, swivelling round in his seat to get a better look at Theo. He needed to get that boy off his soap box.

‘Yes, they do, Draco,’ Theo said firmly, ‘You know that they do.’

‘Why? What’s so bad about mixing blood? It’s all bullshit anyway- you know that it is!’

‘Yes, I do, Draco,’ Theo signed, exasperated, ‘but that’s not the point and you know it!’

‘This isn’t happening,’ Draco insisted, thrusting himself out of his chair in frustration. ‘This can’t be happening.'

‘Well, it is Draco,’ said a calm voice from the doorway.

‘Mother!’ Draco snapped, greeting her with an obviously fake smile before turning back to the window in frustration. He knew from her expression she had overheard far too much of their conversation.

‘Mrs. Malfoy,’ Theo sang, striding over to greet her. His counterpart continued his pretence of surveying the grounds.

‘Nice to see you again, Theodore.’ Narcissa had never made any effort to hide her approval of him, and now was no different. Theo had been one of the boys Narcissa herself had picked out to be a playmate of Draco’s when he was young. She was glad he had proved to be a loyal and worthy friend to Draco over the years. Especially as Lucius’s choices (two of his friend's sons) had failed in that department.

‘And you Mrs. Malfoy.’

‘We haven’t seen you here in a while. How are things over at Nott Manor?’ Narcissa asked with genuine concern. The boys may be adults but in her mind's eye they were still messing about in the garden, pestering the house elves.

‘Challenging,’ Theo confessed. ‘What with Father being in Azkaban. But I have the best lawyers helping me smooth everything out.’

‘Well, that’s good hear, isn’t it Draco?’

‘Spiffing,’ he replied through gritted teeth. He knew what was coming but also that there was no avoiding it this time.

‘Would you please let me have word with my son, Theo? I don’t mean to be rude-'

‘There is nothing to apologise for, Mrs. Malfoy,’ Theo said graciously. ‘I understand completely. I should be going anyway.’

‘I hope we will see you soon,’ Narcissa smiled kindly. She thought it must be lonely in that big house.

‘The feeling is mutual, I assure you. Goodbye, Mrs. Malfoy. Draco,’ Theo trailed off. He threw a worried glance towards his statuesque friend before ducking out.

‘That was rude Draco,’ his mother reprimanded, ‘and uncalled for. He is your friend!’

‘Really? I’m not so sure…’ Draco replied still making a show of staring out the window.

‘He is trying to help you!’ she cried, she would not have her son push people away after he had already lost so much.

‘He is against me!’ Draco shouted, turning to face his mother at last. It always struck him how pale she was, even after all these years. The war had changed her, he knew that, and he hated it.

‘I thought you were different, Draco,’ Narcissa sighed wearily. She sunk into a seat near the fire. ‘I didn’t think you wanted to surround yourself with 'Yes Men' like your father.’

‘I don’t,’ Draco replied angrily as he strode over to the mantel.

‘You want people around you who will tell you the truth,’ she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. ‘Even if you don’t want to hear it. You need people like that.’

‘Yes,’ Draco acknowledged more calmly. He began to fiddle with the cuff of his jacket. He could see his frail mother in the corner of his eye.

‘Well,’ Narcissa remarked, ‘that is what you have in Theodore. It isn’t a common trait, don’t push him away because of this.’

‘Theo said you would have to disinherit me,’ Draco's voice was soft, all the energy draining out of him. He perched on the chair opposite his mother, ‘I don’t know what he meant by that.’

‘Yes, you do Draco,’ Narcissa said, closing her watery eyes, ‘the curse is still in play.’

‘That’s real?’ Draco asked, astonished. He looked over at her, searching for reassurance, but for the first time, she wasn't looking at him.

‘Yes,’ Narcissa almost laughed at her son’s ignorance. ‘Did you think we had made it up?’

‘I thought Father had made it up,’ he confessed, feeling rather foolish. ‘To scare me out of marrying anyone not of pureblood.’

‘No,’ she confirmed sombrely, as she opened her eyes again. The severity of the situation seemed to be sinking into the optimistic heart of her young son. ‘It’s real.’

‘So what you are saying is that if I married her, I would be condemning her to death?’

‘You know the story,’ Narcissa answered in the way of an acknowledgement.

‘Yes. In the 17th century, fearing the pollution of the Malfoy blood, Atticus Malfoy wrote in his will that all who marry those of impure blood, and were not disinherited, would suffer his curse. The year after, his youngest grandson married a muggleborn witch. As he was not due to inherit, his parents saw no reason to fear the curse. The night of their wedding his new wife died horrifically as her insides burned. A few generations later a son decided to take a half-blood as a wife. She was from a well-respected family, equal in society to any of pureblood. They married peacefully and the next morning she was still alive. But the curse came on her when she was carrying their first child. It caused her to give birth prematurely and she died in the process. The child itself was horribly disfigured and died also. The son then went mad with grief and took his own life. It’s true?’

‘Their graves are in the family cemetery. I am so sorry, Draco.’

‘There must be a way to break to curse,’ Draco said with a determination that hurt Narcissa more than she would say.

‘Would you believe me if I told you I had already looked?’ Narcissa confessed, begging for her son to believe her. ‘That your father and I spent hours searching for just that. We hired dozens of professionals, including Bill Weasley.’

‘Did you really?’ Draco asked in awed.

  
‘Of course,’ Narcissa nodded, 'everything had changed since the war. Even Lucius could see that.

‘When?’

‘Right after you brought her to meet us for the first time. We knew, this time, things were different. I am truly sorry, Draco, but there is nothing to be done.’

‘I- I love her.’

‘I know,’ Narcissa reassured him as her heart broke for her son.

‘So, you are telling me that I have to choose. I have to choose between her and this.’

‘Yes.’

‘The curse is really real?’ Draco asked again. Maybe he had misunderstood her at some point, or this was some elaborate practical joke.

‘Yes, the curse is real,’ Narcissa reiterated as she rose from her chair. ‘There are many curses on this family, Draco, but none as cruel as this.’

‘I think I need to be alone for a while,’ Draco concluded, rising to stand before his mother. For some reason he couldn’t meet her eye. He understood now, maybe in a way he never had before, what his father meant when he used to talk about duty. Now Draco had to decide where his duty lay.

‘Take as long as you need,’ she whispered. She stroked his unkempt hair, taking this time to look at him. Today she could lose her son or he could lose himself. Gathering her courage, she left, just as Theo had. This time, Draco was alone.

He had thought silence and solitude would help him clear his head. Instead, the weight of it was all he needed to tip things over the edge. Enraged, Draco marched over to where he had been sitting before Theo had barged into the room. He picked up the book he had been reading and threw it across the room. He thought it would help, it wasn’t enough. Now he ripped shelves of precious books out of their cases. He tipped over chairs and pulled screaming paintings from the walls. In a rage he grabbed a statue off the window sill and began thwacking it repeatedly against the stone family crest above the fire place. Ornaments and tapestries crashed to the ground but he paid them no heed. He hated this. He hated his ignorant ancestors and his loving parents. He hated this impossible choice he had to make. Draco almost wished his mother had not been so kind. Maybe then it would be easier to leave.

For three hours Draco sat despondently surrounded by the chaos he had created. Finally, he knew what he had to do. He had to talk to her.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------'Draco,’ Hermione sang as she opened the door for him, ‘what are you doing here?’

‘Can we talk?’ Draco asked, shuffling his feet in the doorway.

‘Sure, come in,’ Hermione called. She continued to smile as she led the way into her warm apartment. She was putting on a pair of earrings whilst shuffling into a pair of royal blue pumps which matched her dress. ‘What is it?’

‘Are you going somewhere?’ Draco inquired. He followed her into the bathroom where she had been doing her makeup. This wasn’t the kind of conversation you could have in a rush.

‘Only Harry and Ginny’s engagement party,’ Hermione laughed. It was one of the most anticipated events of the year. This was mostly because only a few people were going and the press had no idea what was actually happening. They kept making up all sorts of rubbish. ‘You are coming too, remember?’

‘Oh yeah, about t-that,’ Draco stuttered. Shit, he had completely lost track of time. ‘I can’t make it.’

‘Is that what this is about?’ Hermione coaxed. She appeared rather calm but Draco could tell she was deliberately not looking at him. He had seen her get ready in the time it took him to tie his shoes. She was stalling.

‘A bit,’ Draco speculated, ‘Not really.’

‘Well, spill it then.’ Hermione almost ordered as her patience began to run thin. The tension was almost audible.

‘Ok, fine.’ Draco asserted trying to remember how his mouth made words.

‘Breathe, Draco,’ Hermione reassured him, ‘then talk.’

‘Ok,’ Draco repeated, she was right, breathe, and then talk. Hermione is an intelligent woman, she’ll know what to do. ‘Right- you know how we were thinking about getting married?’

‘Yes?’ Hermione was grinning now, her annoyance from before seeming to evaporate. ‘My father loved that you asked his permission. He thought it very proper.’

‘Well, um, I talked to my parents.’ He informed her, trying to sound casual as he scratched the back of his head.

‘Please tell me you are doing the thing where you pretend it was terrible when in fact it went really well.' Hermione relaxed, believing her own lie.

‘Not exactly,’ Draco confessed.

‘What do you mean ‘not exactly’?’ she demanded. He could see she was trying to remain calm as she added the finishing touches to her make up.

‘I can’t marry you.’ Draco blurted out, causing Hermione to nearly poke herself in the eye with her mascara wand.

‘What!?’ Hermione yelled with venom in her voice as she whipped her head around so fast it appeared to be a blown blur.

‘We aren’t going to get married,’ Draco reiterated. He began to walk backwards away from the advancing Hermione.

‘…..why?’ She asked tentatively, still following him.

‘Please, just let me explain-’ Draco replied. He decided to hold his ground now he was in the more open space of the living room.

‘It’s because of my blood. Isn't it?’ Hermione spat, shaking her head. ‘I thought your parents had moved past that, I thought they liked me!’

‘They do-‘

‘Well, obviously not!’ Hermione remarked, taking another step forward. ‘If they don’t want me to marry you.’

‘Hermione, it’s not that simple,’ Draco tried to explain, running his hands frantically through his hair. This was not how this was supposed to go.

‘Oh, of course,’ Hermione sneered. ‘No, it never is, it’s ridiculous and you know it! They are nothing but a pair of spiteful Death Eaters who can’t see past the ends of their prejudiced noses!’

‘Hey, that’s uncalled for,’ Draco was shouting now too.

‘No, it’s not,’ Hermione exclaimed, ‘Draco- it’s the truth!’

‘Will you just listen-?’ Draco snapped.

‘No!’ Hermione cried, ‘I don’t want to hear what they have to say, I don’t want to know why they are dis-‘

After so much yelling the silence when Hermione cut herself off was almost as loud.

‘Hermione?’ Draco asked softly. Concerned, he took a step towards her but she took a step back like they were doing a strange dance, ‘Hermione, what is it?’

‘If you married me you would be disinherited,’ Hermione articulated. ‘That’s what they said, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah, so? You know that. That’s what this conversation is about!’

‘No, that is not what this conversation is about!’ Hermione almost shrieked. Tears now flowed freely down her face. ‘This conversation is about us not getting married! They made you choose between your inheritance and me and you chose the money! You said you would give up anything for me, that you couldn’t put a price on what we have. Was that just words to you?

‘Hermione, please, if you would just-‘ Draco begged, reaching out for her. If he could just get her to listen-

‘No!’ she groaned, batting his hand away as she recoiled from him. ‘I am not going to listen to you! Get out! Get out of my house and never come back!’


	2. An Exchange of Information

‘Hello?’

‘Ginny?’ Hermione sobbed down the phone. The emptiness had begun to settle on the room the instant he had disapperated. In that moment there was nothing Hermione had wanted more than call him back and apologise for everything. Then she remembered why he had left and it all became too much.

‘Hermione? What’s wrong?’

‘I can’t come to the party this evening, I’m sorry.’

‘Hey, there is no need to cry about that,’ Ginny reassured her, trying to make light of the situation. ‘Is Draco coming?’

The sound of his name coming out of her friend’s mouth so casually was more painful than Hermione could have anticipated. ‘No,’ Hermione sniffed, ‘that’s kind of the reason why I can’t come.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘W-we broke up.’ It felt so foreign to say these words Hermione thought she would never have to say again.

‘What? Honey, I thought you guys were getting engaged!’ Hermione was so glad she was having this conversation over the phone. She couldn’t bear to have Ginny pity her.

‘Yeah, well, his parents had something to say about that and he- he-‘

‘He didn’t!’ Ginny’s outrage was unchallengeable.

‘He did!’ Hermione cried as a new wave of tears overcame her. ‘They threatened to disinherit him and he chose the m-money over me!’

‘Oh, I am going to break his perfect face!’ Ginny shouted down the phone, already plotting.

‘No, Ginny, don’t,’ Hermione begged her. ‘And please don’t tell anyone- I couldn’t bear it if they all knew. I don’t want anyone feeling sorry for me. Please, please just- tell them that I’m ill or something.’

‘Of course! ...I’m still mad though.’

‘Yeah,’ Hermione sniffed, ‘me too.’

 

It took a while, but, eventually, Hermione got over Draco. In that time the auror department got a bit much for Ron so he quit his job. He went travelling for a few months before coming back to work with George in the shop. Hermione and Ron had changed a lot over their time apart. They fell in love again and found what they had missed the first time around. Their marriage wasn't perfect, but no marriage ever is. To Hermione’s delight, and surprise, Rose started to date Scorpius in their fifth year at Hogwarts. Even then Hermione never spoke to Draco. Then, one day, after Rose and Scorpius have been dating for nearly four years, Rose came home in tears. She won’t say anything apart from she and Scorpius broke up. Hermione thinks she knows the truth, but she doesn’t say anything. She takes her daughter to stay at Shell Cottage; it is the place to mend a broken heart. When there, she talks to Bill.

‘Thank you so much for doing this, Bill,’ Hermione said as she nursed the cup of tea he has just handed her.

‘It’s our pleasure,’ Bill reassured her as he took the seat next to his wife on the other side of the kitchen table. ‘The house gets too quiet sometimes with the girls gone and only Louis left.’

‘I understand that,’ Hermione laughs halfheartedly. ‘I have no idea what Hugo does in his room, but he is always quiet as a mouse.’

‘You know, all those years ago,’ Bill said as he took another biscuit, ‘If you had told me history would repeat itself, I wouldn’t have believed you.’

‘Yeah, it’s a shame that things didn’t work out between you and Draco,’ Fleur added, glaring at the bourbon in Bill’s hand.

‘Yeah, well, he was a dick, and I wouldn’t have all this,’ she gestured to the kitchen and company around her, ‘if I had married him. I’m glad that I’m a part of a family that loves and respects me. I couldn’t have dealt with his parents. I was surprised by them at the time but I’m even more surprised by how he has acting now. I didn’t realise that he still held onto those old beliefs.’

‘Hermione, what are you talking about?’ Fleur asked, offering her another biscuit and moving the plate away her husband.

‘I thought it was obvious,’ Hermione replied, picking out a custard cream, ‘Draco has threatened to disinherit his son because he wants to marry my daughter, just as his parents did. All in the name of blood purity- it’s sick!’

‘Hermione,’ Bill said, setting his mug to one side, ‘that’s not what’s happened.’

‘Are you-‘

‘It was Rose,’ Fleur explained, ‘Rose broke up with Scorpius,’

‘But why?’ Hermione blanched at the notion. And why did she not know this?

‘I thought that he would have told you,’ Bill said.

‘Who tell me what?’

‘Draco,’ Bill stated, ‘Did he not tell you about the curse? There is a curse on the Malfoys that prevents them from marrying people not of pure blood,’

‘That sounds like an old wives’ tale, how could it even work?’

‘The spouses die.’ Bill shuddered. ‘Horrible deaths. Really nasty, nasty deaths.’

‘…How do you know this?’

‘The Malfoy’s employed me over 20 years ago now, to try and certify if it was real and if it was, then to break it. I, of course, was not their first choice. They were desperate by the time they got to me. I was their last resort. They thought as I had some emotional investment in the outcome it would give me the extra push to get it done but it’s a full proof curse. From what I know of the industry, and the case, they must have spent hundreds of thousands before they even got to me. And then of course Draco contacted me about two years to try again.’

‘Your special project.’

‘Yes,’ Bill confessed, ‘I did everything I could, Hermione. I swore I would do better this time, find what I had missed before but there really is nothing to be done. I told Draco as much last month when I resigned. He did everything in his power to try and get me to continue. He offered to double my pay, but I knew that I would just be giving him false hope, and steeling his money, if I stayed any longer. From what I gathered, he told Scorpius about a week or two later, Scorpius told Rose the next day. That week Rose came to me and I told her what I knew. He was going to do it Hermione. Scorpius said that he didn’t care, he wanted to marry her anyway, and he was going to be disinherited. He wanted to tell his father this afternoon, so Rose left him. She didn’t want that for him. Did you really not know?’

‘No.’

‘I can’t believe he didn’t tell you,’ Bill shook his head, ‘you’re right, he was a dick.’

‘In his defence, I think he did try. I didn’t give him a chance.’

‘When was the last time you spoke to him?’ Fleur asked.

‘That day,’ Hermione sighed, not quite looking at either of them, ‘I practically slammed the door in his face and I never saw him again.’

‘Well,’ Bill stood and began clearing the mugs, ‘a clean break I guess.’

‘I guess.’

*****

Hermione didn’t know why she was here. She had never been here before. This was so rude. Malfoy Enterprises. Everyone knew where it was; it was a vast building tucked away amongst the many anonymous office blocks of muggle London. The girl at the front desk didn’t even try and stop Hermione as she stormed towards the lifts. She was nearing the top floor now. There was no turning back. Purpose, she thought. The golden gates rattled back as soon as the lift came to a stop and Hermione strode out into the reception just as quickly.

‘I’m sorry,’ called a nervous looking secretary, ‘Miss, you can’t go in there!’

‘Oh yeah?’ Hermione challenged him before flinging the door open and slamming it behind her.

He was sitting right there, behind the surprisingly modest desk, only looking up at the sound of the door slam. A glimpse of surprise passed over his features before he skilfully masked it. It had been so long, but he was still him. Hermione seemed to have left her anger outside in her hurry to close the door.

‘I assume, Mrs Weasley,’ Draco spoke with a business-like tone. ‘That you are here to yell at me about a resent development between our children, but I should tell you-'

‘I spoke to Bill,’ she blurted out, taking a step away from the door, ‘He told me everything.’

‘Oh, I see,’ he said quietly. As the information sunk in his body changed. Just like that they stopped being the parents of their children and they were who they were. Draco and Hermione.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ she whispered desperately, all the nervous energy draining out of her.

‘I tried,’ he groaned, holding his face in his hands. ‘But you didn’t want to hear it.’ He sounded as if even talking required too much energy. He had been holding it all in for so long. ‘I had so hoped that things would be different for Scorpius. I did all I could to make things different, to do it better.’

‘He is better than you, what I said still stands,’ Hermione said, trying to hold herself together. ‘You could have chosen to be with me, without the money but you didn’t. So what, the stakes where higher but that didn’t matter. The choice was still the same! Rose left Scorpius! You left me!’

‘Of course I left you! If I had stayed we would have lost everything!’ he yelled, hitting his desk with such force the whole structure shook.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Ginny’s engagement party was not Ginny’s actual engagement party,’ Draco stated, as if she were a child. ‘Or have you forgotten?’

She had forgotten. ‘It was a guise,’ she told him even though he already knew. ‘To get everyone together, in a place where they wouldn’t kill you when we told them. It was our engagement party. But we wouldn’t have lost everything.’

‘Please sit,’ Draco motioned to the chair beside her and she did. ‘I’m going to tell you what I should have told you then so this time, please don’t interrupt me. The Malfoy name was dirt back then. The only power my family had was money. The only respect we had was the seat on the Wizengmot. The only social power was in the old pureblood groups. I would have been cast out of that group, there would have been no money and well, there goes our dream of changing things politically. There goes the dream of creating this!’ he gestured to the office around him. ‘No chance of redeeming the name and using that power for good. I would have been nothing and yet, I would have done it, I would have left it all for you, happily, even. I would have gone, I was going to. I had a plan and everything. I didn’t care much about those dreams, they were pipe dreams back then. I had a plan about us, we were going to make music and art, work shitty jobs and travel the world and it was going to be amazing. I told my mother as such and she started crying saying, how could you do that to that poor, poor girl. I realised she was right. Your family, the Weasleys, your friends are here. Your job, which you love, all the charity work, the Elfish and Magical creatures’ rights. All you have achieved in your life would have been impossible with a life like that. I could have left all of this, I would have revelled in our new life. When we settled down you would go to work because that is what you love, and I would have stayed at home with the kids. See, I had it all planned, but my mother was right, I could not live with bringing you down with me. You would always have wanted more, and I would be unable to give it to you.’

‘But I loved you. I love the sound of that life.’

‘That’s another thing, you would also have done the selfless thing and you wouldn’t have gone after what you really wanted. In the magical world you are a witch and while I was done with magic, I hated it even for a bit, you loved it. How could I take you out of the place you so clearly belonged? There is more to life than love. But I did love you, so I let you go.’

‘Have you been happy?’ she wondered aloud. 

‘In truth?’ he cocked his head, thinking about his response. He had not stopped looking at her since she had entered his office, ‘For a while I really wasn’t but I adapted. Astoria was a big part of that. I love her so much, not more or less than I loved you but different. She was exactly what I needed at that time in my life.’

‘I’m glad,' Hermione nodded. She didn’t want him to be miserable.

‘I was also happy that you got all the things I had given up my life with you for,’ Draco fiddled with the parchment he had been reading when she came in, ‘I’m sorry about Ron.’

‘It’s ok,’ Hermione shrugged, looking down at her hands, ‘it was over for a long time before it ended.’

‘Where you unhappy?’

‘It wasn’t a matter of being unhappy but rather not being happy?’ That sounded stupid, she hated sounding stupid, ‘The joy had gone. We were just two friends who lived together and bickered too much. I wanted to remain friends, as did he, so we got a divorce. I know that if we had stayed together we wouldn’t have even been friends by the end. It was rather amiable. The kids didn’t understand then, but they do now. Ron and Fay are happy together.’

‘Good,’ Draco put the parchment away in their file, ‘I was worried when I found out.’

‘That’s sweet of you. Do you miss her?’

‘Tori? Everyday. It was rather hard on Scorpius, he was so young when she…’ Draco swallowed, ‘He was only thirteen when she died.’

‘You never thought about getting remarried?’

‘No, never. The way I saw it, I had already been spoilt. I had had two great loves in my life when some people don’t get one and I was only ever going to marry for love. Even now, I don’t think that I would get married even if I did fall in love. What would be the point? Have you ever thought about getting remarried?’

‘No, it has been five years now but no, I think I’m the same as you.’

‘Do you want to have dinner on Saturday?’ Draco stood up and started looking for something in his desk.

‘Pardon?’

‘Dinner?’ He pulled out a smart phone from his top draw and then grabbed his coat, ‘Saturday? My place, if you want? Any of my places, we don’t have to go to the manor. It’s just I have a meeting soon and I want to talk more.’

‘Are you sure that would be ok?’ Hermione stood up also, watching him move around his office.

‘Just to talk mind,’ Draco added, swinging a worn leather satchel over his shoulder, ‘We were friends first, weren’t we? I miss that.’

‘I miss it too.’

‘So, Saturday?’

‘Yeah, I’ll see you then.’

 


	3. A Resolution of Differences

Rose went to Romania to get away and then became a travel writer for Wizards. Scorpius became a healer as his father wasn’t dying any time soon. Draco was already friends with Harry from working with the auror department over the years and knew Bill well, he integrated slowly with Hermione’s friends and her with his. She worked with Blaise and knew Theo from before so it was easy to reconnect with him. It started with just dinner at their houses and then book recommendations and exchanges. That expanded to readings and signings, museums and seeing each other at ministry gatherings. Draco revealed that he had been a private or anonymous donator to Hermione’s causes for a long time so he now came to her events and her to his. He introduced her to people to help her cause or if he thought that she would find them interesting and she did the same for him. It took them no time at all to become almost insuperable. They did argue sometimes but it never lasted. A few years later Rose was home for a few weeks in between assignments and was telling her mother about a boy she was dating. She had tried before but this time it seemed to be working. Rose made a joke about her mother’s boyfriend and Hermione just laughed.

‘Oh,’ Rose laughed with her mother although made no attempt to hide her surprise, ‘I thought that you were dating Mr Malfoy.’

‘Oh no,’ Hermione assured her, ‘I mean, we did when we were young, but we are just friends now.’

‘What happened?’ Rose asked, curious to know more.

‘The same thing as between you and Scorpius,’ Hermione smiled, ‘pretty much.’

‘Oh, Mum,’ Rose gasped, her pain still not old, ‘I’m sorry.’

‘It’s ok,’ Hermione shrugged, sipping her tea, ‘it was a long time ago.’

‘Why don’t you get back together with him?’ Rose had a mischievous look in her eye as she claimed another biscuit.

‘We’re just friends,’ Hermione gave her daughter a look.

Rose didn’t believe her. ‘But you could be more.’

‘I guess.’

‘It’s not like you want to get married again.’

‘No, you’re right,’ Hermione signed, ‘I don’t know, I don’t want to ruin things.’

‘I understand that,’ Rose shrugged, ‘Right, I said that I’d meet Lily for lunch, I’m off.’

‘Have fun!’ Hermione called after her, the sound echoing around the now empty kitchen.

 

*

 

‘My daughter is convinced that we are, in her words,’ Hermione added, ‘totes the cutest couple of the year.’

‘Whatever that means,’ Draco laughed, pulling their linked arms tighter as they walked together.

‘Yeah,’ Hermione sighed, distracted by a cat that was eyeing up the ducks that were setting off across the lake.

‘She would be ok with it then?’ Draco wondered, hoping to sound casual.

‘Ok with what?’ Hermione asked, brought back into the moment.

‘If we were to,’ Draco wavered, ‘well, you know, date and stuff.’

‘And stuff?’ Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.

‘Yeah,’ Draco confirmed, trying to sound more certain than he was, ‘I’m sorry if I’m not up on the latest slang.’

‘No, well,’ Hermione stumbled over her words, ‘yeah, I guess that she would be ok with it then.’

‘Good.’ Draco couldn’t stop the smile spreading over his face.

‘Good?’

‘Yeah, good,’ Draco continued as they made their way further around the lake and away from the main thoroughfare, ‘because I had a very strange conversation with my son the other day.’

‘How so?’ Hermione asked, intrigued, slowing their pace.

‘He told me he thought it would be strange if I was dating his ex’s mother, but it wasn’t, and he was happy that we were happy.’

‘Oh my gosh,’ Hermione suppressed a giggled, ‘what did you say?’

‘I said thank you very much, that means a lot and yes, we are very happy.’

‘You liar!’ Hermione laughed, elbowing him the best she could with her arm wrapped around his. ‘We aren’t dating. You lied to your son!’

‘Well, then,’ Draco smiled, turning to face her, ‘we should start dating so that it means that I haven’t.’

‘Oh, that was smooth,’ Hermione said, slightly unsure of how she wanted this to go.

‘I know right,’ Draco’s smug grin was plastered all over his face.

‘I could kill you,’ Hermione reminded him as she brought them to a standstill on the now deserted mud path.

‘I love it when you say things like that,’ Draco brushed some loose hair behind her ear, ‘keeps me on my toes.’

‘You’re ridiculous,’ Hermione scoffed and made as if to continue walking but Draco’s grip while loose was firm. Hermione was aware that it would fall away in a second if she wanted it to.

‘Fine, I’m ridiculous,’ Draco sighed, almost wearily, ‘but let me just do one thing and then we never have to talk about it again.’

‘Ok, what?’ Hermione asked, surprised he was willing to drop the topic so soon.

‘This.’

And then he kissed her.


End file.
